


You Smiled (and Then the Spell Was Cast)

by universallongings



Series: My Lonely Days Are Over (and Life Is Like a Song) [2]
Category: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Morning Sex, Oral Sex, So much smiling, mentions of trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:35:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23824669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/universallongings/pseuds/universallongings
Summary: He was generous with his affection in a way she hadn’t been prepared for, another surprise in a long line of Tim Bradford surprises. She thought back to the beginning—of how afraid she’d been that she would never be able to earn his respect, of how rare his smiles and his compliments had seemed then. She looked up at him and tried to memorize the unguarded softness in the way he was looking at her now—as if she could send that image back in time to the Lucy of two years ago to show her that she was right to believe that he was more than what he projected to the world.ORLucy and Tim discover that intimacy sounds like laughter, smells like coffee, and tastes like freshly-showered skin.
Relationships: Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen
Series: My Lonely Days Are Over (and Life Is Like a Song) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1716589
Comments: 37
Kudos: 171





	You Smiled (and Then the Spell Was Cast)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to all of you who inspired me to keep going after A Dream That I Can Call My Own, I decided to write this companion piece, which picks up basically right where we left off. 
> 
> This fandom has been so supportive and sweet, so I hope you enjoy a little sweetness coming back your way at the end of a long week!
> 
> Once again, the title of this fic comes from Etta James’s “At Last.”

Lucy Chen was a perfectionist. Logically, she knew it was a dangerous mindset to have—you don’t grow up with parents like hers and avoid lectures about unhealthy self-perception and unrealistic standards. But whether she was auditioning for a school musical, taking an abnormal psych exam, or getting into the shop every day, she had been chasing perfection for most of her life. 

She wondered—as she felt Tim’s fingers gently playing with her hair as his legs slowly tangled themselves between hers—if maybe all that chasing could finally stop. 

Because this—this felt pretty damn close to perfection. 

“Do we have to go to brunch?” she whined into his shoulder. 

She could feel his laughter under her cheek. “I think we would be conspicuous by our absence,” he mumbled into her hair, adding a kiss to the top of her head for good measure. He paused, and she could feel the tension in his body while he tried to keep his voice casual. “Speaking of being conspicuous…”

She knew where he was going without him having to say it. She could have a PhD in Decoding Tim Bradford’s Silences after the last two years. 

“What’s the plan for this?” she finished for him, accenting her “this” with a dramatic sweeping gesture down their intertwined bodies on the bed. She sat up against the pillows, and he followed suit. “What did you have in mind?” She knew he was probably well on his way to formulating some kind of elaborate, 15-step plan for them to slowly reveal what was going on to their friends and coworkers. 

Instead of immediately revealing that plan to her with typical Tim Bradford efficiency, through, he simply held her hand in his, his thumb running back and forth over her knuckles. She could feel her shoulders relax under the reassuring pressure. 

“I actually thought you might want to take the reins on this one,” he said softly, and she suddenly felt like she was holding his heart in her hands, but it didn’t feel heavy at all. Maybe she’d been holding his heart for so long already that she was just used to its weight. 

She reached out to smooth the lines of worry from his forehead, letting her hand settle on the side of his face as she held his gaze steadily. “Did you miss my whole speech earlier? I want every part of this.” She lightly brought their foreheads together before she concluded, “And as hot as having a dirty little secret might be, I want the world to know you’re mine.” 

His smile as he brought his lips to hers was the only confirmation she needed that she’d said the right thing. But she knew better—Tim Bradford always wanted to have the last word. “That was the correct answer, Officer Chen,” he replied against her mouth.

“Oh no,” she sighed as she straddled him, thoroughly enjoying the way his eyes hungrily took in the sight of her breasts as the sheets fell away. “Is this all an elaborate Tim Test?” She ground her hips into him as she felt his body respond under her. She moved her mouth up his chest and neck until her lips were against his ear. “I hope I passed,” she whispered with another circle of her hips. 

In one swift motion, he was hovering over her as his lips seemed to explore every inch of her neck as if they might have left some territory undiscovered during their previous expedition. “Natural-born test taker,” he sighed against her collarbone before his mouth began moving lower. 

Just as he settled between her thighs and she began thinking about how she could _really_ get used to this kind of morning routine, a knock on the door made him stop in his tracks—and made her instinctively close her legs, hitting him on the side of his head with her knee. They both tried to stifle their laughter as she apologized, her hand coming up to brush at his temple affectionately. 

They could hear voices behind the closed door.

“Tell him it’s housekeeping!” She would recognize Jackson’s voice anywhere, and she could practically feel Angela’s eye roll through the walls. 

“Thanks for playing into the Latina stereotype,” she shot back, and their arguing luckily bought Tim and Lucy some time. 

Lucy hurried out of bed, grabbing her shirt and her underwear from the floor. “I meant what I said about us being open about this thing,” she said as she stopped to press a reassuring kiss to the corner of his mouth. “But I’d rather not have one of my superior officers and my partner see us in bed naked, if that’s okay with you.” She threw her shirt over her head, stepped into her underwear, and laughed at his playfully sad expression at seeing her clothed again. “I may not be ready for _that_ much openness.” 

He nodded as he grabbed his boxer briefs and threw on a pair of gym shorts over them. “But you love talking about your feelings!” He tickled her sides lightly before she escaped, scampering into her room in a fit of giggles, marveling at how much _fun_ this was. 

\----------

She stood by the door, waiting for Jackson to knock on it as she tried not to laugh at Tim’s casual, “Good morning, Officer Lopez,” as he opened the door to Angela. She could almost see his shit-eating grin, and it made her want to run back in there and kiss it off of him.

Just then, Jackson knocked on her door with a too-loud, “Lucy! Tell me everything!” She didn’t want to appear too eager, so she let him sweat it out for a second as she eavesdropped on Angela and Tim:

_“I am the bride, which means you are obligated to tell me what happened after you left last night.”_

_“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”_

_“Everyone who watched you two last night knows what I’m talking about! I’m basically the one who told her to follow you, so don’t play coy with me, Bradford…”_

Lucy couldn’t keep Jackson waiting much longer, so she let him in. He took one look at her dissheveled hair and probably stupid smile and said with a ridiculous amount of glee, “Oh my God, you had sex!”

She could deny it, but she knew she was a terrible liar. So she shushed him as she sat down on her—damningly still made—bed. “A lady never kisses and tells,” she said with an exaggerated wink. 

He shook his head as he sat next to her. “Oh no you don’t! I am pulling the roommate card. I have told you probably way too many things about me and Sterling—hell, remember the time you walked in on us in the shower?” 

She looked down, blushing at just the memory. “Yes, and I am very sorry about that, but you should have locked the door!”

He lowered his eyes to hers, genuine care and concern shining in them. “Just tell me one thing…” He covered her hand with his protectively. “Are you happy?”

She could feel the smile bloom across her face. “Yeah,” she answered. “I’m really happy.” 

He hugged her tightly then. “That’s all I needed to know.” But then he added quietly, “But honestly...how was it?” 

“Oh my God!” She pushed him away before leaning in conspiratorially. “He made me really happy...twice.” 

“Okay, I am now torn between being thrilled for you and wishing I hadn’t asked,” he said as he melodramatically put his head in his hands. 

In the momentary quiet between them, Lucy caught a bit of Tim and Angela’s conversation again: 

_”This is good, Tim.” Angela’s voice was soft, and Lucy could hear the smile in it._

_“Yeah...It is,” Tim replied, and Lucy’s heart melted at the certainty in his voice._

“Well I am off for a quick workout before brunch,” Jackson said to Lucy as he got up. “I would ask you to join me, but I think you already got your workout in this morning.” He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes at him. 

He stopped at the open doors between her room and Tim’s. “You ready to go, Officer Lopez? Get what you wanted?” 

Angela nodded as she poked her head into Lucy’s room. “I’m not saying you should thank me, but I did give you a friendly little nudge last night...And you two didn’t end up in adjoining rooms on accident…”

Lucy smiled genuinely at the woman who’d been there for both her and Tim more times than she could count—the woman who was a mentor, a teacher, and one of her most trusted friends. “Thank you, Angela.” 

The emotion in her eyes was unexpected as she replied, “You’re welcome.” The sincerity of the moment didn’t last long, though, as Angela walked into Lucy’s room and called over her shoulder as she and Jackson left for the hotel gym, “Have fun, kids—but not too much fun! Brunch starts at 10, and if you miss out on the good pastries because you were too busy making out, don’t come whining to me!” 

\----------

As the door shut behind them, she turned around to see Tim leaning on the doorframe between their rooms, his eyes smiling despite his best attempt to feign annoyance. “They’re ridiculous.” 

She moved closer to him, snaking her arms around his neck as his wound around her waist. “You won’t get any arguments from me on that,” she said. 

“Well that’s a first,” he teased with a quick kiss to the tip of her nose. 

He was generous with his affection in a way she hadn’t been prepared for, another surprise in a long line of Tim Bradford surprises. She thought back to the beginning—of how afraid she’d been that she would never be able to earn his respect, of how rare his smiles and his compliments had seemed then. She looked up at him and tried to memorize the unguarded softness in the way he was looking at her now—as if she could send that image back in time to the Lucy of two years ago to show her that she was right to believe that he was more than what he projected to the world. 

She rose up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to the dimple on his cheek that was quickly becoming her favorite. “It’s been a morning of firsts,” she said softly. 

His hands slid down to her ass, bunching up the bottom of her shirt as his lips found hers, and she felt anticipation crackling under her skin. His voice was sinfully low against her ear as he countered, “And seconds...if I remember correctly.” 

“Mmmhmmm…” she agreed, sliding her hand boldly down the front of his shorts to stroke him through his boxer briefs. His hiss of approval was all she needed to keep going. “And maybe thirds?” She looked up at him and arched her eyebrow. 

“Keep looking at me like that and we might get to fifths,” he growled as he lifted her off the ground in one quick motion, her legs wrapping around his waist as he kissed her deeply. He set her down on the edge of the bed, and he knelt in front of her with a look in his eyes that made her blush. 

She leaned back on her elbows, greedily watching him as he slowly pulled her underwear off. His mouth traveled up her calf, moving to the other leg to tickle the sensitive skin behind her knee. When he reached the insides of her thighs, she instinctively pushed herself forward on the bed, edging herself closer to his mouth. 

“Impatient, are we?” he teased. 

Her reply was lost in a moan of surprised pleasure as his mouth finally reached its destination. She was almost embarrassingly close already—the sight of Tim Bradford on his knees for her, licking and sucking at her clit with characteristic thoroughness, leaving no stone unturned and no inch untasted—was enough to get her there with very little extra effort.

But Tim Bradford was never one to shy away from extra effort. Just as she felt herself nearing the peak, he brushed his thumb against the throbbing bundle of nerves as he continued to use his tongue to press more deeply into her. 

She gripped the sheets so tightly her fingers hurt, every thought in her head disappearing except for one word.

“More…”

He looked up at her then, the proud smirk on his lips as his thumb continued to circle her clit enough to undo her right then and there.

“What’s the magic word?” His voice was teasing and gentle, just like the cool air he was blowing against the insides of her shaking thighs. 

She could feel her orgasm building, the sensation almost too much to handle. “Fuck…” she moaned, her head tossed back to the ceiling. 

“Close enough,” he replied with a chuckle, as his mouth returned to where it belonged and she came with a full-body shudder and a litany of obscenities panted into the quiet of the hotel room. 

She let herself collapse on the bed, and when she opened her eyes and sat up, she found him sitting on the ground, looking up at her as his fingers traced a soothing path up and down her calf. Her heart felt so full in that moment that she wondered how it was still fitting in her chest, and she knew exactly what she wanted to do next. 

Her fingernails began to comb through his hair, and she reveled in the content hum that her movements produced. “Does that feel good?” she asked softly, and he simply nodded under her hand. 

“Know what would feel even better?” she continued, pressing a little more firmly into his scalp, her eyes dipping down to the evidence of his arousal against his gym shorts. 

“I think I’ve got an idea,” he replied as he knelt in front of her again, his fingers playing with the bottom of her shirt.

She didn’t have to say anything else, his eyes reading hers the same way they did for all those months on patrol together. He got up quickly, removing both his shorts and boxer briefs in one motion. He dipped his head to kiss her slowly before leaving his lips against her cheekbone.

“What do you want, Lucy?” The ragged edge to his voice made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. 

She felt dizzy, drunk with want and with the power of making him want just as strongly. She stood up to face him before pressing her fingertips against his shoulders and gently guiding him to sit down. “I could tell you...” she said, her voice low. She stood between his legs and took her shirt off, enjoying the firm pressure of his hands on her hips. “But it’ll be so much more fun to show you.” 

He pulled her closer to him, and his mouth immediately began worshipping her breasts. Her hands yanked at his hair as his tongue flicked over her nipples. 

She slowly lowered her body over his, crawling to the mess of pillows as he stopped every so often to reach up to steal a kiss. Once she had him backed up against the headboard, she took her time straddling him and lowering herself down. She held her breath for a moment as she adjusted her hips to take him in fully.

“Talk to me, Boot…” Tim gently commanded, concern seeping into his hoarse voice. That nickname coming from his mouth as he was buried inside of her made her heart race. She felt dangerously close already, but she wanted to make sure he was right there with her. 

She slowly started to roll her hips as she replied, “Doing great...sir.”

“Fuck yeah you are,” he replied with a strangled laugh as they found a rhythm, his thumbs brushing along the undersides of her breasts as her fingers traced down his chest to his abs. 

As they continued to move, her hand settled on the scar on his side from their first fateful week together. And she could feel his hand travel down to press against the numbers on her skin. They both had their own scars—similar in some ways and so different in others, but they saw them and knew them and even watched them slowly start to heal over the last two years. There was an intimacy to that—to holding him as he bled on the ground and being held by him as the force of almost dying hit her like a bullet—that was unlike anything she would ever know with anyone else. 

“Lucy…” He sighed, and she knew he was right there with her. When he moved forward and brought their bodies even closer, she gasped in delight before bringing her head right next to his. 

“I want to make you come, Tim...That’s what I want...” she breathed into his ear, answering his earlier question and pushing him to the brink at the same time, his deep, delicious moan resonating in her bones. 

She followed almost immediately, his name falling from her lips over and over again as she felt him fall back to the mattress, gently pulling her along with him as their shaking muscles stilled. 

\----------

As she slowly came back down to Earth from wherever the hell he just took her to, she began to trace her fingernails over his chest. “I think we might be really good at this,” she said as she searched his face, enjoying the easy smile that grew there. 

He kissed her soundly then. “Damn straight,” he said with a smirk that made her wonder if they had time to go another round before brunch. 

As if he could read her mind, Tim leaned over her and checked the time. “We should probably get ready,” he said with a groan. “Don’t want to miss the good pastries,” he added with a quick kiss to her cheek. 

“Okay,” she whined as she sat up. “I’ve got to hop in the shower.” Seeing the suggestive look in his eyes, she amended, “Alone.” Standing up from the bed, she leaned down one more time to place her mouth against his ear, “Because I know if we get in there together we are _never_ getting out.” 

He dramatically flopped back against the pillows as she grabbed her clothes and headed back to her room. She threw on a shower cap (There was definitely no time for hair washing and drying now.) and hopped into the shower, enjoying the slight sting as the water hit the parts of her inner thighs where his stubble had scratched her. 

A surprising memory sprung to her mind as she stood under the spray. 

_It'll brand you. No matter how good you are or how hard you work. Break things off before it's too late._

She remembered how strongly she believed Talia Bishop in that moment, how sure she was that she couldn’t jeopardize her career for any man. 

But as she rubbed the citrus-scented body wash over her ribs, she thought about the fact that she now knew what it was like to literally be branded, and she was learning to live with it, to carry it without shame. And being with Tim—being the recipient of his smiles, his laughter, his affection, his respect? That didn’t feel like being branded. It felt like finally being free. 

She stepped out of the shower and into the absurdly soft hotel towel, taking a minute to moisturize and spray some dry shampoo on her roots. As she rubbed some of the fog off the mirror, she caught Tim’s towel-clad reflection in it, his smile wide and his head shaking slowly back and forth. His expression was adoring and exasperated and wonderfully hers. 

“Scalding hot showers aren’t good for you,” he chided as he walked into her room. 

“Yeah...well, cold showers aren’t good for anyone who has to deal with me after I take one,” she replied, all the bite from her voice disappearing the second he stood behind her, pressing a kiss to her bare shoulder. 

The light pressure of his lips and the heat from the shower made her feel so relaxed that she yawned. 

“I’m sorry...Am I boring you?” he mumbled into her neck.

“Never,” she answered, enjoying the picture they made in the mirror as his mouth continued to work over her skin as her back arched against his chest. “For some reason I didn’t get a lot of sleep…”

“I’ll be back,” he whispered into her jaw, disappearing into his room and giving her the opportunity to at least get partially dressed. She threw on a new pair of underwear and a bra and started doing her makeup, finishing up her mascara by the time he came back, dressed in a gray suit with no tie and sliding a cup of coffee in front of her. 

“Thanks,” she sighed gratefully as she took a sip—almost as much cream and sugar as coffee, the next best thing to a latte. 

“I figured I’m the reason you didn’t get a lot of sleep, so the least I could do is make you some bad hotel room coffee,” he explained with a kiss to her hair, his fingers trailing along her bra strap. 

“It’s not as bad as that one place we stopped after that hike with Kojo.” She laughed at the memory of coffee that tasted like ash and cost an insane amount of money in a trendy little coffee shop that Tim looked painfully out of place in. 

Tim’s face lit up. “Speaking of Kojo...The place where I boarded him for the weekend has a live stream where you can watch the dogs playing. Should we check in on our little guy?” 

There were many surprisingly endearing things about Tim that Lucy had noted over the last two years, but his love for Kojo was one of her favorites. “Of course!” she replied. 

As she dug in her suitcase for her yellow maxi dress and her sandals, Tim came back with his phone in his hand. “He’s playing with some toy, and he seems very determined.” 

Lucy giggled at the video of Kojo going to town on whatever squeaky toy was in his mouth. “Like father, like son,” she teased, bumping Tim’s shoulder with hers. 

She stepped into her dress and reached back to do the zipper herself but found his hands were already there. 

“I got it,” he said, his hands making quick work of the zipper and the hook and eye at the top before placing a soft kiss to the nape of her neck. 

She turned to face him and was surprised to find him looking suddenly shy. “Maybe after I pick him up today you can stop by and visit? I know he loves it when you come over,” he continued with his hands in his pockets, looking adorably nervous. 

“I’d love that,” she answered, enjoying the relief that seemed to wash over him. It made her brave. “And then maybe we can grab some dinner?”

His smile was so bright she wanted to bask in it forever. “The taco truck by the beach? I know it’s your favorite.” 

“It’s a date,” she said with a quick kiss to his grin, and as she quickly put on her sandals, she took a moment to enjoy the fact that she had a date tonight with Tim Bradford—the first of what they both knew would be many. It felt shiny and new—but also familiar and comfortable at the same time. Lucy wondered if this was how it was supposed to feel when it was right. 

\----------

As they made their way out of the room, into the hallway, and down the elevator—his hand firmly in hers the whole time—Lucy thought back on what this had felt like at other times in her life. She’d always tried so hard with every guy to make it perfect—to be perfect for them. But Tim already knew she wasn’t perfect. He knew her flaws, he knew her scars, but he also knew her strengths. 

She didn’t have to be perfect for this to feel perfect. 

They walked into the restaurant hand in hand, ready to face the world together, not hiding anything, and she knew that her epiphany from earlier was correct. 

This didn’t feel like being branded. It felt like finally being free.


End file.
